VOTERS will go to the polls on September 14 in what will mark the longest election campaign in the nation's history.

In a speech at the National Press Club Prime Minister Gillard confirmed the election date.

The Prime Minister said her early announcement would allow business and consumers to "plan their year". But it was also a challenge to the Opposition to deliver policy detail sooner than it might want.

"The benefit of fixing the date now is not just the end of speculation about election timing. It gives shape and order to year," she said.

"And it enables it to be one, not of fevered campaigning but of cool and reasons deliberation.

"Not a year without passion – because elections are the time in our national life where values should contend, where alternate plans should be compared and considered.

GillardSource:News Limited

No surprises also means no excuses. Australians aren't interested in campaigns without content, platitudes devoid of purpose.

"There is now clearly the time … for the people and parties contesting the election to lay out their fully-detailed costed plans for the timely consideration of voters."

The Prime Minister will advise the Governor-General to dissolve the House of Representatives and issue writs on Monday, August 12 for the September 14 election.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott made a statement welcomed the announcement and said the election would be about trust.

"The coalition is ready," he said.

GillardSource:News Limited

Ms Gillard said she did not want to start the nation's "longest election campaign".

"It should be clear to all which are the days of governing, and which are the days of campaigning."

Ms Gillard said she reflected over the summer and thought it was not right for Australians to be forced into a guessing game.

She said she had consulted with her deputy Wayne Swan and her senior colleagues about the date.

Abbott: 'It's a matter of trust'

TONY Abbott welcomed Labor’s announcement of a poll date and declaring the campaign about trust.

Repeatedly hailing his “positive plans” in front of a Liberal Party campaign backdrop, the Opposition Leader this afternoon said the Coalition was ready for an election after recently launching its Real Solution policy platform.

“This election is about trust,” Mr Abbott said, pointing to trust as important to keep the cost of living down, boosting job security and protecting the nation’s borders.

“The choice before the Australian people could not be clearer. It’s more tax or less. It’s more regulation or less. It’s less competence or more. It’s less freedom of more.”

GillardSource:News Limited

He recommitted to abolishing the carbon and mining taxes, cutting wasteful government spending, boosting productivity and improving schools and hospitals

While Mr Abbott focused on positivity, he did attack Ms Gillard’s speech before she announced the election date.

“The only real statement in the Prime Minister’s in her Press Club speech was that the Australian people need to pay more tax,” he said.

But Mr Abbott did not take questions at his press conference at Parliament House, saying he would do so tomorrow at his National Press Club speech and that frontbenchers Joe Hockey and Christopher Pyne would take questions this afternoon.

Reactions to the announcement

Ms Gillard has confirmed she spoke with NSW Independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott about the election date before making the announcement today.

Federal NSW Independent MP Tony Windsor welcomed the announcement of the election day, saying calling it now would provide certainty.

But he admitted the early announcement would mean the next eight months might well see both major parties in campaign mode.

"In the past, Australians have been frustratingly on 'election alert' for long periods of time and, in this 'hung' parliament, on the brink of an election from day one if you believe the Opposition Leader and some sections of the media," he said in a statement.

gillardSource:News Limited

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey was concerned about the state of the budget which a coalition government might inherit.

"Election on Sept 14 is before the final budget outcome is revealed for the current year," he tweeted.

Mr Hockey also tweeted: "Julia Gillard is giving herself certainty about the election date but won't give Australian families certainty about `savings' impacts".

Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull said: “Deeply disappointed that Julia Gillard chose to hold the election on Yom Kippur - the most solemn and sacred day of the Jewish year.”

Liberal frontbencher Steve Ciobo used Twitter to respond to the announcement.

"So, the Fed Election is on Sept 14 - how much more damage can Labor do in 7 months?" he tweeted.

The Greens say they will seek a multi-party commitment to adopt fixed-term elections.

There will be Rudd

Kevin Rudd has declared he will campaign in every state to help government's re-election chances.

But the former prime minister has refused to answer several questions about the woman who deposed him, including her decision to set an election date so early.

Mr Rudd said he had already been asked by local MPs to campaign in every state.

When asked about his own leadership intentions, Mr Rudd said he had already made them clear last February.

Last February he promised not to run against Ms Gillard again after she resoundingly won a leadership ballot.

GillardSource:News Limited

What the bookies say

The coalition is a firm favourite with at least one bookmaker to win the September election.

Punters are putting money on the coalition to win the September 14 federal election with their odds cut to $1.22 from $1.26 within hours of Ms Gillard announcing the date.

Sportingbet Australia chief executive Michael Sullivan said if the PM was anticipating a positive reaction to her election announcement, she may be surprised. Punters have responded by backing the coalition into even shorter odds.

"We actually thought there would be some support for the ALP after the announcement,'' Mr Sullivan said in a statement. Labor's odds drifted from $3.75 to $4.15.

AbbottSource:News Limited

"We can't find anyone interested in backing them,'' he said.

A JWS Research poll of 54 marginal seats predicted federal Labor could lose 18 seats and its hold on government.

The market reacts

City Index chief market analyst Peter Esho said selection of Saturday, September 14 as the date for the next federal election was unsurprising.

"That's within the ballpark range of probable dates that most forecasters were assuming," Mr Esho said.

AbbottSource:News Limited

"Everyone was assuming that this government would try to go as long as it can into its term, so there's no real surprise with September."

The Australian stock market and dollar had a muted reaction to Ms Gillard's poll date announcement, which came shortly before 1pm AEDT.

Mr Esho said the decision to go to the polls in September could indicate the federal government was not too concerned about its budget situation.

He said there had been no policy announcements accompanying the announcement of the election date, which might indicate that the government could have some surprises up its sleeve when Treasurer Wayne Swan announces the federal budget on May 14.

"One of the biggest issues weighing on the market has been political instability, not necessarily who holds government," Mr Esho said.

The PM outlines her vision

The Prime Minster began her speech, which outlined her priorities for 2013, by declaring most Australians fear our children will not lead a better life than themselves.

"I want this audience to feel all the force of that concern. I most certainly do, the Prime Minister told the National Press Club in Canberra.

Ms Gillard pointed to insecurity for many following the global financial crisis, and extra pressures fro the ordeal of long commutes to work to paying household bills.

"It means it can be a struggle to make ends meet and it can seem far harder to get ahead in the post-GFC world," she said.

"It means we are more likely than earlier generations to face the challenges of parenting and caring for older parents at the same time.

"Combined with the travel time to work and, for some, concern about community safety, life can be very stressed and pressurised.

"Through all this, we are more connected with information about world events and causes of community anxiety than ever before.

"Over time, the uncertainties and pressures we live with have led some of us to be concerned that our children won't live a better life than us."

The speech highlighted families as a priority for Labor and the focus of broader economic policy this election year with the Prime Minister pledging to make the next generation "stronger, fairer, smarter".

"As a generation of Australians, our greatest task, our highest calling, is to build a future of greater shared opportunity and less risk for the next generation," said Ms Gillard.

"I want to eradicate any sense we can't get this done. As a nation, we are strong, fair by instinct, smart.

"I know that we have it within us to ensure the next generation of Australians is stronger, fairer, smarter. I am an optimist; everything we have achieved as a nation reinforces that optimism, everything we are planning delivers on it."

But Ms Gillard foreshadowed tough Budget measures - what she called "long-term saving measures" - to pay for that security by warning that governments were facing their toughest revenue raising periods for years.

As expected, she nominated increased school funding and creation of a National Disability Insurance Scheme as the destinations for much of the savings, but did not in her speech say where the cuts would be made.

The Prime Minister said government revenue per unit of national output was at the lowest since the early 1990s.

"In other words, for a given amount of economic income generated, less money is finishing in the public purse, to be used for the Australian people," she said.

"We are experiencing a proportional reduction in the amount of revenue being generated from any given amount of economic income. This is part of a trend which is felt worldwide.

"Now, the immediate effect of this was made clear by the Deputy Prime Minister (Treasurer Wayne Swan) last December.

"While within our medium-term fiscal strategy, spending is tightly constrained, the amount of tax collected from all sources - particularly from company tax - is significantly lower than independent forecasters or the Treasury have anticipated.

"Compared to the public revenue which was forecast on the eve of the global financial crisis in 2008, what has actually been collected in tax since is far lower - on average, lower by more than $30 billion every year.

"Even compared to what was forecast once the worst of the global financial crisis had passed, annual revenue is tens of billions of dollars below what was expected."

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